Free Speech
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2025 has already broken record for 'attempts to silence student speech': free speech group
With two weeks left in calendar year, FIRE has already documented 21 more incidents than previous high of 2020, influenced by activism around COVID-19 lockdowns and George Floyd's death.
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Maryland school district expects teachers to use preferred pronouns for 'almost 200 students' each
Teachers, but not students, granted religious exemption to not use preferred pronouns in policy amendments approved by district an hour from D.C.
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Trump's antisemitism special envoy nominee says platforms should label supposed misinformation
Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun echoes the Biden administration's portrayal of collaboration rather than coercion when it comes to working with social media companies to "recognize when something is not factually correct" and label it as such.
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School board members sue NY AG James over threatening letter on allowing transgender debate
Not dissuaded by poor track record in court on regulating speech, the attorney general warned school board members they risk removal for not cutting off speech that questions gender identity, criticizes policies that prioritize it over sex.
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School district trampled due process in criminal probe of student for Charlie Kirk message: lawsuit
Student got permission from front office to honor slain activist on "spirit rock," but officials accused her of criminal vandalism, coerced a confession, searched phone without a warrant and never informed her of her rights, lawsuit says.
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Charlie Kirk assassination didn't reduce liberal student support for violence to stop speech: poll
"Moderate and conservative students," but not liberals, "are less accepting of other students using aggressive or violent protest tactics" now compared to the spring, survey finds. Yet 9 in 10 students overall think "words can be violence."
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IRS retaliation, incompetence show why it shouldn't get donor identities, nonprofits tell judges
IRS can't even explain why it needs donor identities to do its job and has terrible track record, diverse nonprofits tell 6th Circuit. It hid leak from victim Young America's Foundation until nearly a year after contractor's conviction.
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Supreme Court urged to stop protecting 'incompetent and malicious' bureaucrats from liability
Qualified immunity, with no legislative basis, helps censorious "desk-bound bureaucrats" more than police in split-second decisions, Institute for Justice says.
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New Jersey bureaucrats censor 'Christian grandma' for asking constituents about taxes: lawsuit
School board member challenges the Garden State's interpretation of the School Ethics Act to prohibit routine communication with constituents about anything a school board might consider, such as tax increases, consolidation.
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Appeals court bans punishing students for using 'biological' pronouns: not disruptive, harassing
Full 6th Circuit overturns panel on party-line vote, says students use correct pronouns for gender-confused peers because "there is no practical alternative" to compelled affirmation of what they hold to be a lie. Dissent compares to f-word.
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City council chills public comment by banning criticism, requiring home address: lawsuit
"Up until recently, meetings were livestreamed and posted online, forcing citizens to broadcast their home addresses to the public," followed by threats, harassment and Satanic Temple correspondence, law firm says.
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'All they did was wear wristbands!' Judges question school district's ban on 'XX' at girls' games
Most Democratic federal appeals court doesn't want gender identity protests to escalate at school games, but panel isn't impressed by district's explanation for censoring parents without any plausible disruption.
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Ninety-four percent of sanctioned scholars suffered from free speech attacks
Survey by FIRE talked with scholars “targeted for sanction because of their speech between 2020 and 2024.”